An Appropriate Time
by RaichuTec
Summary: Relationships wither and fade. Partners come and go. Sometimes, though, things can be salvaged with a little patience. (RaidouxGenma)


Disclaimer: Naruto characters and settings are not owned by me. I'm just playing with them for a bit and I'll put them back when I'm done. 

A/N: I know some people loathe these, so I'll make this short. This has a first chapter to it, sort of, written from Raidou's point of view. But Genma's side has a lot more detail to it. So that's what I'm posting here.

**An Appropriate Time**

by Raichtec

He really wished Raidou would just get it over with and ask.

Not that Genma was entirely sure what Raidou wanted to ask him. He knew the question was there, right on the tip of his lover's tongue, just in the way he held him before they fell asleep at night, or when they finally stopped being mad at one another over some minor tiff and snuggled into one another's arms quietly. Sometimes, he was just sure that finally he'd get to hear whatever was on Raidou's mind. But silence would dominate and eventually Genma either forgot about it or fell asleep.

They'd known each other for what felt like forever. Genma could still recall that August, when he was freshly turned ten and Raidou hovered close to twelve. Everything had been hot and humid for weeks at that point, the sun steaming the world. Ice cream melted in an instant and got all over your hands, sticky and sweet. Genma had a penchant for trouble. When he wasn't seeking it, it still found him instead. When he'd get into fights with local bullies, despite the heat, barely able to really defend himself against them. Too skinny, but he was always a scrapper.

Raidou had a shiny cast to him, then. Full of ideals and righteous energy. He came from a good family and he and Genma had the same blonde hair, the same water color blue to their eyes. His smile was infectious and he encouraged Genma where others always discouraged and believed in him in ways most people simply didn't. A name did not make the man, he often said. Genma believed him. Believed in him. Felt nothing short of awe as Raidou defended him that August, and forever after.

At some point, things changed. The idealism wore thin, or maybe Raidou's viewpoint changed after the mission that left him scarred. Genma only recently had been promoted, trailing a year behind Raidou in that regard. He'd been in the hospital for months, enduring surgery after surgery in an attempt to spare him so many scars. It failed, for the most part. He entered what Genma could only refer to as a black period. He snarled at everything, refused to go out with or without fresh bandages over the angry scars that covered half his face and flowed like flame down his throat and onto his chest.

"You are still pretty," he said to Genma once, "You don't understand what it's like to go out into the world and make a child cry for seeing the hideousness of your scars."

"I don't think they're so hideous," he replied, "You'll always be beautiful to me."

They became lovers shortly thereafter, that day. Raidou took control and Genma submitted, hoping it might help his best friend forget the dream of the white picket fence, fair faced wife and children. He recalled it being uncomfortable and a bit painful that first time, but he kept that to himself. He wanted Raidou to love him, and loved him back just as strongly.

It worked. Raidou slowly came out of his melancholy. He smiled more often, stretching the scars until it stopped hurting to do so. He went out into public again. They held hands when they thought no one was looking, stole kisses behind buildings, winked at one another knowingly, and made love in the evenings when no one else was around to disturb them. By then, Genma had afforded an apartment and Raidou was over so often he joked about them moving in together.

It didn't happen for another two years. And after that there came one cat followed by another. They settled into a life together, missions to see to, house details, feeding the cats, going out drinking with friends. People knew what was going on between them, but no one ever called them on it and that was just fine.

Maybe they could have lived happily ever after, if they lived anywhere but in the real world. Shinobi had a duty to Konoha, and more often than not, they were apart for longer and longer periods of time. Genma became a member of ANBU and Raidou had the esteemed position of the Hokage's bodyguard. On a particularly difficult mission, Genma was gone for weeks at a time and Raidou had obligations during the day.

Eventually, Raidou began wondering, aloud, if maybe Genma might quit ANBU. To this, Genma countered that perhaps Raidou should not work so many hours at his post. They frowned at one another, silently staring, stubbornly digging their heels in.

"I don't want my boyfriend coming home in a bodybag," he said, sharply.

Genma cruelly replied, "I don't recall committing myself to you like that."

And so came the misconception that Genma had no intention of ever being that commited to his lover. Raidou held onto that like a grudge, and used it as a barb whenever they got into an argument. Eventually Genma slipped into the part. Sometimes he wondered if maybe he and Raidou might break up completely, go their separate ways.

While they skirted it a number of times, it never happened simply because they refused to say it, either of them. Most of their arguments were grounded in silence. Staring at each other before one of them walked away and slammed a door shut somewhere. Raidou always was the first to give in, approaching Genma from behind and sliding hands around his waist, kissing the back of his neck until his lover relented.

It unnerved him a little bit. Genma had changed from the little puppy that trailed after Raidou, finding himself more and more in control and uncomfortable with it.

Then came the mission that changed everything all over again. Genma found himself a prisoner with two other ANBU, to be tortured for information, repeatedly drugged and eventually addicted to it. He watched his teammates undergo the same agony, sometimes forced to take part in torturing them, and exchange expressions of forgiveness when they had to do the same to him. He wondered if all of them would go mad long before they died.

Once rescued, Genma wasn't sure how to deal with the world anymore. He retreated into himself. Sometimes he registered Raidou's face, felt kisses pressed to his lips or his forehead, but those days afterwards were hazy and mostly spent in the hospital trying to get rid of the toxins in his system and control the withdrawl symptoms. When he was finally released into Raidou's care, he slept on the futon in the living room rather than the darkness of their bedroom. When he could sleep, at least. Most nights after that were wracked with nightmares, seeing the torment he endured over and over again in his head.

Raidou put his job on hold during those first few months, staying home to keep an eye on Genma, holding him at night to help keep the nightmares at bay. He never asked what happened, and Genma never offered any tales. He kept all of it inside until finally he felt numb enough to face the world again.

And they stopped talking about the things that were wrong with their relationship. Raidou returned to his post, Genma quit ANBU and went back to regular missions. They floated around one another like satellites drifting further and further out of orbit.

Until the day Genma realized Raidou was staring at him. They hardly slept together anymore, becoming more like roommates than lovers. Raidou sometimes made noise about commitment and as he was expected to do, Genma refused the topic all together. Yet for all the temptation around him, all the opportunities to find someone else or sleep with another, Genma never actually tried. He could have, he knew, he'd established that he wasn't Raidou's, really.

And Raidou simply wouldn't have anything to do with it. Too honorable, to idealistic. Too much in love with Genma or maybe they'd been together so long he wouldn't have known what to do with himself if they were apart. Twelve years was a long time.

So he was looking at Genma again, reaching out to re-establish something. Rather than push him away, Genma pulled him back in. And that's when he wondered if Raidou would ever finally ask whatever question he'd been meaning to ask.

"You know, it'd be nice if you'd just say it and get it over with," he said, sleepy and content, pillowed against his lover's chest with an arm around him.

"Pardon?" Raidou replied.

"Whatever it is you want to say to me or ask me, just do it. You keep staring at me when you think I'm not looking. It's been going on for months now and it's really driving me nuts. So what is it?"

"Ah," Raidou sighed. His fingers trailed along the curve of Genma's spine before a splayed hand came to rest at the small of his back, near the tailbone. "Well, we've been together almost thirteen years, Genma."

"Next August, yes."

"I know... well, I know there's no real tradition for people like us and I know you don't want commitment but--"

"Oh stop it, Raidou. If you're asking me to marry you the answer is yes."

Raidou shut up, then, tensing. Genma's eyes opened, head tilting back to get a look at his lover's face, wondering if he'd just stuck his foot in his mouth again.

Instead, he was greeted by the most radiant smile he'd ever seen, not since the two of them met on that hot and humid afternoon in the depths of summer.


End file.
